


The Silent Moment

by Silverheart



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Endgame, F/M, Gen, Introspection, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-18
Updated: 2012-03-18
Packaged: 2017-11-02 04:03:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/364766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silverheart/pseuds/Silverheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The silent moment. The moment between the inhale and the exhale of the universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Silent Moment

_Onen i-estel edain, u-chebin estel anim_.

“I give hope to men. I keep none for myself.”

― Gilraen, mother of Aragorn, from _The Lord of the Rings_ by J.R.R. Tolkien

 

It is the silent moment. She’d call it the calm before the storm, but there hasn’t been anything but the storm since…when, exactly? The months have been too long; she doesn’t know.

There is no peace for Commander Shepard. There is just the silent moment.

It was something she’d noticed since her cadet days. No matter how much you prepared, no matter what you were preparing for, you hit a point where you had done all you could. You will never be more ready. You can only wait. The silent moment. The moment between the inhale and the exhale of the universe.

The world around her—Earth, at long last—is not silent. She can hear the shrieks of husks and gunfire as they’re driven back. They can never hold them off. Just long enough to pack up, if they’re lucky.

Here, when the moment stops, it is all or nothing.

She gazes out on an Earth that is a darkened ruin. More dead than Tuchanka, more hopeless. Twisted corpses alone prowl the streets. All that marked the history of this city and this nation has been leveled. As it had been for all other cities, and for Palaven, and Thessia, and Dekuuna…

She’s said her goodbyes and half-pretended that wasn’t what they were. Her weapons and armor are ready, her orders firmly in mind. She’s read and reread Thane’s last letter, printed on real paper and crushed to her heart. All the prayers she can think of have been said, all memories of value examined. Her resolve is like steel—no, more, the Normandy’s diamond armor, the thing that will keep her together under the onslaught.

The last thing she had.

“Shepard,” Anderson says over the comm. She doesn’t answer; he knows she’s listening. “We’re all ready to roll out. You might want to speak to your people. I’m pulling the last defenses in.”

“Thanks.” She turns from the gaping hole out onto the broken world and drops down a ladder. Her combat team is waiting for her.

She takes a deep breath as she looks at them, and pulls a speech out of her unyielding determination.

One last fight. One last chance. One last sliver of hope.

The universe exhales.

**Author's Note:**

> That quote was the first thing that popped into my head after the Thessia mission. It is such an excellent description of my Shepard's mindset from that point forward. So here this is.


End file.
